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Collective Housing Buiding in Fontaínhas
Collective Housing Buiding in Fontaínhas
Portugal
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Other Projects by CREA
Collective Housing Buiding in Fontaínhas
Portugal
Firm
Type
STATUS
Built
YEAR
2026
SIZE
0 sqft - 1000 sqft
BUDGET
$100K - 500K
The rehabilitated building is located in Passeio das Fontaínhas, a consolidated urban area, and a part of the Special Protection Zone (ZEP) of the Historic Center of Porto – between Luiz I Bridge and the Serra do Pilar Monastery, integrating an urban perimeter of heritage valued and classified buildings, or in the process of being classified, in the historic center of Porto.
The building complex was erected in the second half of the 19th century, in 1868, as a family house, and subsequently, about two decades after the building permit was granted, it was renovated and expanded, with two new floors added to the original two.
The pre-existing building was in a very precarious state, with part of it in partial ruin, and the stairscase were very narrow and did not comply with the legal requirements for safety, accessibility, comfort, and health. This circumstance led to the replacement of part of the floor slabs and the central wooden staircase, with a new one of regulatory dimensions, made of CLT (Cross-Laminated Timber). This solution met the requirements defined by the design team, promoting prefabrication and factory manufacturing, which significantly reduced the execution time, without abandoning the use of a material with low embodied energy and that stores carbon, helping to reduce CO₂ emissions.
In parallel, a solution with a greater sense of spaciousness was promoted, combining the visual comfort of wood with the tectonic and raw characteristic of the existing granite walls and the new thermal block partitions, painted in a soft blue that translates the refraction of light.
The construction and finishing choices reflect an austerity of means in the process, in which each design tool - spatiality, playful and chromatic options, as well as light - converge to enhance each element, with minimal gestures, in a serene and sober manner.
The doors and windows, as well as the wooden floors, underline the choice of selecting natural materials with captured CO2, in harmony with the original materials traditionally used in the centuries-old buildings of the surrounding historical area.
Another design decision was to promote the reuse of existent elements, rehabilitating and maintaining the wooden structure of the roof, as well as some of the structural elements of the slabs, and some existing doors, walls and stonework.
The small size of the plot and the implementation of a new central staircase led to the design of one house per floor, in which the living room and kitchen area are bathed with the southern light, with balconies and verandas facing the Douro River and the cliffs of Vila Nova de Gaia.
In the interior facade, the bedrooms receive light from the west, and a more versatile use of space was planned through the allocation of a work area enlivened by the visual framing of the orange trees in the courtyard.
We wanted to encourage the collective and shared use of common areas, and so provided a laundry room for the use of the housing units, which also have storage on the ground floor to compensate for the small size of each house.
A key aspect of this project is the preservation of the housing program in this historic neighborhood of Porto, with affordable rents that address the pressing need to provide housing to a more disadvantaged community, largely deprived of the fundamental constitutional right to housing, and consequently the dignity and freedom to choose to remain in the place where they have created their roots, memories, and experiences.
To that extent, this rehabilitation program promoted by Porto Vivo, SRU - Urban Rehabilitation Society of the Porto City Council, seeks to retain the local communities of historic neighborhoods, which are under considerable pressure from real estate developments involving national and international capital, as an essential factor in preserving the city's cultural values and the dignity of its populations.
The building complex was erected in the second half of the 19th century, in 1868, as a family house, and subsequently, about two decades after the building permit was granted, it was renovated and expanded, with two new floors added to the original two.
The pre-existing building was in a very precarious state, with part of it in partial ruin, and the stairscase were very narrow and did not comply with the legal requirements for safety, accessibility, comfort, and health. This circumstance led to the replacement of part of the floor slabs and the central wooden staircase, with a new one of regulatory dimensions, made of CLT (Cross-Laminated Timber). This solution met the requirements defined by the design team, promoting prefabrication and factory manufacturing, which significantly reduced the execution time, without abandoning the use of a material with low embodied energy and that stores carbon, helping to reduce CO₂ emissions.
In parallel, a solution with a greater sense of spaciousness was promoted, combining the visual comfort of wood with the tectonic and raw characteristic of the existing granite walls and the new thermal block partitions, painted in a soft blue that translates the refraction of light.
The construction and finishing choices reflect an austerity of means in the process, in which each design tool - spatiality, playful and chromatic options, as well as light - converge to enhance each element, with minimal gestures, in a serene and sober manner.
The doors and windows, as well as the wooden floors, underline the choice of selecting natural materials with captured CO2, in harmony with the original materials traditionally used in the centuries-old buildings of the surrounding historical area.
Another design decision was to promote the reuse of existent elements, rehabilitating and maintaining the wooden structure of the roof, as well as some of the structural elements of the slabs, and some existing doors, walls and stonework.
The small size of the plot and the implementation of a new central staircase led to the design of one house per floor, in which the living room and kitchen area are bathed with the southern light, with balconies and verandas facing the Douro River and the cliffs of Vila Nova de Gaia.
In the interior facade, the bedrooms receive light from the west, and a more versatile use of space was planned through the allocation of a work area enlivened by the visual framing of the orange trees in the courtyard.
We wanted to encourage the collective and shared use of common areas, and so provided a laundry room for the use of the housing units, which also have storage on the ground floor to compensate for the small size of each house.
A key aspect of this project is the preservation of the housing program in this historic neighborhood of Porto, with affordable rents that address the pressing need to provide housing to a more disadvantaged community, largely deprived of the fundamental constitutional right to housing, and consequently the dignity and freedom to choose to remain in the place where they have created their roots, memories, and experiences.
To that extent, this rehabilitation program promoted by Porto Vivo, SRU - Urban Rehabilitation Society of the Porto City Council, seeks to retain the local communities of historic neighborhoods, which are under considerable pressure from real estate developments involving national and international capital, as an essential factor in preserving the city's cultural values and the dignity of its populations.
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